Beginning with a "boot camp" for wannabe pickup artists—where men pay thousands of dollars for three days of classroom seminars on how to get women into bed—Faye Flam's quest for a deeper understanding of men takes her back through the evolutionary history of the human male. A science writer for the Philadelphia Inquirer and the author of the weekly "Carnal Knowledge" column about the science of sex, Flam highlights some intriguing resemblances among males of all species, but also the unique challenges that men face when courting women—whether for a lifelong partnership or a one-night stand—and the evolutionary tension between monogamy and promiscuity.

"Faye Flam knows exactly how to make sex scientific and how to make science sexy. She penetrates the mysteries of human and animal passion with great style."—Matt Ridley